MilestonePolicy & securityConfirmed

NIST selects HQC as a backup for quantum-resistant encryption

Mar 11, 2025

NIST selects HQC for future standardization as a backup to ML-KEM, its main algorithm for establishing shared encryption keys. HQC uses different mathematics, providing an alternative if weaknesses are found in ML-KEM.

Why it matters

A backup based on different mathematics reduces reliance on a single approach to protecting communications against future quantum computers.

NIST

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Related

• NIST publishes the first post-quantum encryption standards (Aug 13, 2024)
• NIST picks the first four quantum-resistant encryption algorithms (Jul 5, 2022)